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Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant during a ceremony to unveil a bronze statue of Los Angeles Lakers and NBA Hall of Fame player O’Neal in Star Plaza at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Friday, March 24, 2017. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/SCNG)

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant hug during a ceremony to unveil a bronze statue of Los Angeles Lakers and NBA Hall of Fame player O’Neal in Star Plaza at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Friday, March 24, 2017. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/SCNG)

LOS ANGELES – With wide smiles on their faces, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant sat side by side as if they were long-time friends.

They warmly embraced each other once Bryant entered the stage for O’Neal’s statue unveiling on Friday outside Staples Center. They laughed during the speeches. They both expressed gratitude for helping each other win three NBA championships (2000-2002).

But former Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar provided a joke in his speech that addressed the tension that so often defined Bryant and O’Neal together.

“Some of us thought the odds of Kobe Bryant showing up today were the same odds of Shaq sinking a free throw,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Though the two had publicly reconciled since winning co-MVP in the 2009 NBA All-Star game, Bryant did not attend O’Neal’s Hall of Fame induction last fall. But on Friday, Bryant complimented O’Neal’s dominance and expressed his love for him.

“It means a lot. I definitely couldn’t have done it without him,” O’Neal told a small group of reporters afterward. “We will always go down in history as the most enigmatic, controversial, 1-2 punch ever created. It would be more of a better story if we didn’t win any championships. We won three out of four. That is excellent and something I live with everyday. I’m glad it happened the way it did. All it did was push each other to be great.”

But with the Lakers trading O’Neal in 2004 to the Miami Heat, former Lakers general manager Jerry West wondered if the partnership could have lasted longer.

“I’d like to think if I was here, that wouldn’t have happened,” said West, who voluntarily left the Lakers after the 1999-2000 season. “I cared for them both differently.”

Yet, former Lakers guard Gary Payton argued the general public and media exaggerated their differences.

“It wasn’t a pleasant surprise,” said Payton, who played with the Lakers in 2003-04. “Everybody puts that in another perspective. Kobe has the utmost respect for Shaq. Shaq does, too. People go through ups and downs.”

On Friday, O’Neal and Bryant showed affection for each other instead of tension.

“It was good to see them on the stage together. They’re great people and obviously one of the best duos of all time,” said Lakers coach Luke Walton, who played with both Bryant and O’Neal. “What the two accomplished together was incredible. To see them up there paying respects to each other and laughing on the stage was a lot of fun and great for anyone that has love for the Lakers and the NBA.”

Mark Medina has been the Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News since 2012. He also works as a Lakers insider for AM570 and is heard on national radio outlets, including The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Chris Mannix Show, Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio and SB Nation Radio. Medina also appears frequently on Spectrum SportsNet and NBC4's "Going Roggin."